diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_util.py b/pandas/tests/test_util.py
index 2e22b33dc769a..bb8bd3df96b71 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_util.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_util.py
@@ -79,6 +79,10 @@ def test_warning(self):
         with tm.assert_produces_warning(FutureWarning):
             self.assertNotAlmostEquals(1, 2)
 
+    def test_locale(self):
+        #GH9744
+        locales = pandas.util.testing.get_locales()
+        self.assertTrue(len(locales) >= 1)
 
 def test_rands():
     r = tm.rands(10)
diff --git a/pandas/util/testing.py b/pandas/util/testing.py
index 3d9a0e7b43634..b4baedada46e1 100644
--- a/pandas/util/testing.py
+++ b/pandas/util/testing.py
@@ -331,19 +331,21 @@ def get_locales(prefix=None, normalize=True,
         # raw_locales is "\n" seperated list of locales
         # it may contain non-decodable parts, so split
         # extract what we can and then rejoin.
-        raw_locales = []
+        raw_locales = raw_locales.split(b'\n')
+        out_locales = []
         for x in raw_locales:
-            try:
-                raw_locales.append(str(x, encoding=pd.options.display.encoding))
-            except:
-                pass
+            if compat.PY3:
+                out_locales.append(str(x, encoding=pd.options.display.encoding))
+            else:
+                out_locales.append(str(x))
+
     except TypeError:
         pass
 
     if prefix is None:
-        return _valid_locales(raw_locales, normalize)
+        return _valid_locales(out_locales, normalize)
 
-    found = re.compile('%s.*' % prefix).findall('\n'.join(raw_locales))
+    found = re.compile('%s.*' % prefix).findall('\n'.join(out_locales))
     return _valid_locales(found, normalize)